


Dreamsicle Swirl

by Em_Jaye



Series: The Long Way Around [5]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Fix-It, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Gen, Idiots in Love, Just slow everything, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Slow Build, Slow Burn, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-20
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2020-07-09 01:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19879612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Em_Jaye/pseuds/Em_Jaye
Summary: Woody Allen once said, 'If you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans." With that in mind, Darcy had to wonder if there was anyone who could make God laugh quite like Steve Rogers.March 1971: A walk home from work





	Dreamsicle Swirl

**Author's Note:**

> I'm thinking I might start posting these on a schedule? Maybe every Saturday for a while. I don't know--you guys tell me. Do you like schedules or should I just keep throwing them up when they're done? 
> 
> Also, if this sounds super familiar, it's because I posted it on Tumblr back when this idea was still a baby and I wasn't sure what to do with it. Hope it still holds up.

March 1971

The bell above the door jingled at 7:59pm, like clockwork. Darcy raised her eyes from the tray of silverware she was rolling and smiled as a dark lock of hair fell into her face. “Hey friend,” she called, watching Steve scan the diner before his eyes landed on her end of the counter.

He smiled back. “Hey, friend,” he echoed and took a seat in front of her. He looked more worn out than usual, she noted, cataloguing the streaks of rust and dirt that clung to his t-shirt and the sweat he’d pushed back into his hair. “I wasn’t expecting you to be so close to finishing up,” he admitted with a nod to the silverware—the chore she always saved until the very end of her shift.

She shrugged. “Kind of a slow night. Want some coffee?” He nodded and she grabbed a white mug and the freshest pot off the warmer to fill up for him. On her way back, she caught the twinkling eyes of June on the other side of the pass bar.

“Is that handsome man here to see you again?” she asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Darcy grinned. “Not here to see me,” she said cheekily. “But I’m sure he’d love it if you came out and said hello.”

By the time she set the cup of coffee in front of Steve, he was smiling and shaking his head. The kitchen door swung open before he could say a word and June had descended up on them both. She threw an arm around Darcy’s shoulders and studied Steve with a cluck of her tongue and a sound of disapproval, dislodging a silver-gray curl from her bun in the process. “You need to feed this boy more,” she insisted like the doting grandmother she was. “He works hard all day—you get him something to eat.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “He’s not my ward,” she reminded. “He knows he can order whatever he wants,” she said, ducking from under June’s arm to return to her silverware.

Steve laughed as June turned her expectant gaze back in his direction. “I’m okay, June,” he promised. “I had dinner before I came down.”

“Mmhm,” June gave him a heavy side-eye. “Is Walter still treating you okay, honey?” she asked, idly sliding the sugar across the counter to him.

He nodded. “Walter’s fine,” he said of the construction foreman he’d been working for on June’s recommendation since August. “Sends his love.”

June huffed indignantly. “Well he can keep that,” she said before she looked back at Darcy’s hands while they made quick work of the silverware and napkins. “Sweetheart, that’s more than enough for the morning girls,” she said with a wave of her hand. “You can clock out if you want.”

Darcy hesitated. “You sure? I don’t mind finishing up.”

But June was already shaking her head. “It’s fine,” she insisted. “You kids get out of here—looks like a nice night for a walk.”

Darcy sighed and reached behind June for her sweater. “Thanks for your assessment,” she said, letting her boss swat her affectionately as she hitched her purse over her shoulder. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Junie.”

She looked at the conspicuously empty street while Steve held open the door for her. “No car?”

He shook his head and offered her a lopsided smile. “It actually is a nice night for a walk.”

She laughed and reached up to undo her hair from its daily bun, resisting the urge to sigh with relief as her scalp finally got a break. “Fair enough,” she shrugged good-naturedly. “But if we’re walking, we’re going up Darwin.” From the corner of her eye, she saw his smile grow before she added, “my treat.”

A few blocks and a soft-serve cone a-piece, Darcy tilted her head to one side and caught a drip before it reached hand. “How was the world of construction today, anyway?”

Steve shrugged, occupied by the ice cream in his hand. “It was fine,” he said, swiping at the corner of his mouth. “Picked up some heavy stuff, put it down. Picked up some other heavy stuff,” he glanced down and caught her smile. “Put that stuff down.”

“Thrilling,” she assessed with a grin up at him. It fell a minute later into a thoughtful frown. “You remember that guy I told you about? Robbie?”

He nodded around another bite. “Mmhmm,” he hummed. “You said he was lecherous.”

She winced. “Ooh. Did I say lecherous?”

“You did,” he assured her. “Why? He come back in? Do something creepy?”

She was distracted from the weight of her deepening frown by orange and vanilla ice cream hitting her skin. She licked it away before she sucked in a breath. “He asked me out.” Steve didn’t say anything until she looked up at him, her face still crunched in contemplation. “I didn’t really say _lecherous_ , did I?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “You really did. Several times.”

She sighed. “Well… looks like the last few months have really lowered the old bar on the standards scale.”

He scoffed. “C’mon. You can’t be desperate enough to actually be considering going out with that guy.”

If she was honest, she didn’t doubt that she’d called Robbie—her new workplace admirer—lecherous when she first described him to Steve. Most of that was the side burns. Robbie was her height and skinny, with dark curly hair and intense, dark brown eyes. He had a habit of staring from his corner booth and wasn’t quite able to keep his eyes on her face when she took his order. He seemed to think that talking about the band he was in was the way to her heart which, Darcy couldn’t quite decide when she’d given off such a vibe. But he was nice. Maybe not _sweet_ , but definitely harmless.

And it wasn’t like she was going to marry him. 

“I have needs, Steve,” Darcy groused. “Womanly needs that are not being met with my alarming dependence on this Dreamsicle Swirl always being around."

He nodded with understanding. “Just remember, Dreamsicle Swirl’s never let you down and it asks for nothing in return.”

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “What about you?” she asked, giving him a nudge.

“I, unfortunately, am nothing like Dreamsicle Swirl and would only disappoint you.”

She snorted. “Not what I meant.”

“Oh,” he glanced down at her and shook his head. “I’m fresh out of womanly needs.”

She chuckled. “What about the rest of your needs?”

“Stuffed down in the same pit of my chest with all the other feelings,” he assured her.

Darcy caught the smile at the corner of his lips. “Well at least you know where they all are if you ever need them.” With her ice cream licked down to a manageable size, she attacked from a different angle. They walked the rest of the block in companionable silence. Steve dug for his keys first when the apartment came into view.

They kicked their shoes onto the same rug and Steve dropped his keys into the ashtray beside the door. Darcy went to the kitchen to wash her sticky hands while Steve went room to room, opening windows, bringing an early spring breeze into the space.

The coffee table was littered with newspapers and scientific journals and Darcy wasn’t surprised when Steve went to drop down on the couch and pick up where they’d left off the night before. “Hey,” she said before he could get off his feet. She spun around pulled her hair over her shoulder, revealing the three rusty, sticky clasps at the top of her uniform she had yet to be able to manage on her own.

He crossed the room without question and undid them for her. A pro by now. “What do you do on the nights I’m not here?” he asked as he pried the last one open.

Darcy smiled as she turned around, unwilling to admit to the graceless shimmying and scrabbling that came from trying to take care of it on her own; usually resulting in her being out of breath and having worked up at least a thin prickle of sweat. “I struggle.”

Her stack of journals was waiting when she’d changed into her pajamas and pulled her hair into a loose braid. She took her usual spot on the second-hand armchair beneath the window. Across the room, Steve was already lost in his half of their research. They both searched diligently, combing page after page of every periodical they could get their hands on for any sign of Janet Van Dyne or any of her or Hank Pym’s research. Darcy didn’t mention it, but she saw the way Steve looked at all of the current events and all of the stories regarding international politics. He wasn’t just looking for Hank or Janet, she knew without having to ask. He was looking for a sign of Bucky, too.

“There’s a conference in Sacramento the first weekend in July,” she said, breaking their comfortable silence a little while later. She folded back the magazine and showed him the small, corner ad. “Physics professionals and enthusiasts alike,” she read when she turned it back around and shook her head. “Physics enthusiasts.”

“I think we’d fall into that category,” Steve mused.

“Unless getting fucked at every turn by physics and her sticky laws of time and space makes you a professional these days.” She glanced up. “I mean, if that’s the case, you’d have at least two PhDs by now.”

“At least,” he agreed, distracted, his eyes on the paper in front of him before he looked up. up. “Yeah, look into it,” he agreed. “Might be worth our time to check it out.”

She yawned and tossed the magazine on the table, having circled the conference notification with her red pen. “I’m going to bed,” she announced. “Can you leave me coffee when you go in the morning?”

Steve grimaced. “Did I not today?”

She shook her head. “Just dregs and disappointment.”

“I’m sorry. I'll leave you some for tomorrow.”

She offered him a sleepy smile. “Thank you,” she started back toward the hallway before she stopped and looked back. “Hey, if I _do_ decide to go out with Robbie,” she began carefully. “And I’m not saying I will. But if I did…Are you going to be an asshole if you’re ever here and I bring him home?”

“I will be if he’s lecherous,” he said without hesitation before he shot her a brief grin. “Just being honest.”

Darcy smiled and shook her head. “Good night, friend,” she said over her shoulder.

“Good night, friend,” Steve echoed, and Darcy could hear the smile still in his voice.

**Author's Note:**

> Come play with me on tumblr: @idontgettechnology and join me at ishipitpod.com for weekly podcast on fandom and fanfic by yours truly. 
> 
> *kisses*


End file.
